On January 23rd, 2014, Search and Rescue GISCorps team members were sworn in as disater service workers

Thanks to the hard work of the GISCorpsandCalifornia Office of Emergency
Services, members of the California
GISCorps SARGIS pilot programhave been sworn in as Disaster Service Workers (pending
background and paperwork processing).This means that the GISCorps members
trained in MapSAR and other SARGIS tools can be called up as mutual aid
resources by the State to help with missing person searches, recoveries, and
any type of disaster where a GIS resource is needed. Read and learn more about
MapSAR and GISCorps’ involvement in this blogand also from GISCorps MarSAR webpage.

Background: In late 2012, GISCorps received a request for volunteers from a consortium
of GIS and Search and Rescue (SAR) professionals from Sierra Madre Search and
Rescue Team, Esri, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park, Yosemite National
Park, Grand Canyon National Park, and Mountaineer Rescue Group who have
developed a Search and Rescue application called MapSAR. The consortium requested assistance to fill three GIS Specialist
positions to support a pilot project in California using MapSAR. Those three positions
were: GIS Trainers, GIS Practitioners and GIS Developers. The detailed job
description for each position and other additional information is included in
this document.

A photo of participants at the most recent MAPSAR training workshop in San Bernardino

Following a state wide recruitment, eight volunteers responded to the
call and five of them headed to an onsite training shortly after. All eight
volunteers are committed to stay with the project and assist in SAR missions in
their designated areas. The pilot project will soon be expanded to other states
and countries. The following report was prepared by Lorri Peltz-Lewis and
photos were taken by Tom Patterson.

These two documents provide detailed information about MAPSAR application

By: Lorri Peltz-Lewis, GISCorps Volunteer

The November call for volunteers resulted in quite a few interested
participants. The goal was for the team to learn the MapSAR application
developed by subject matter experts and transfer this technology to SAR teams
in California. The pilot project requested assistance in the positions of
MapSAR Trainers, Practitioners and Developers. A weekend training class was
held in San Bernardino, CA in December and the team held its first conference
call in mid-December. The team is currently ramping up on understanding the
needs of SAR, establishing the team, developing a plan for next steps, getting
established in the California Emergency Management (CALEMA) Mutual Aid system,
and meeting with the SAR Coordinators.

If you are interested in this project and/or would like to participate, please
see MapSAR for free ebooks and software or contact Lorri
Peltz-Lewis (
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
).

Summary Report on GIS Presentations at California Parks Training on February 27, 2013

By: Dave Hansen, GISP

I came, I saw, I spoke. Tom
Patterson and Chris Cruz captured their imagination. The three of us are
involved in the GISCorps pilot project on MapSAR and search and rescue in
California. These presentations are part of the overall outreach for the GISCorps
pilot.

This is an annual
conference for staff of California State Parks and regional and local parks in
California. The 2013 meetings were held near Monterey.In 2014, the meetings will be at Yosemite
National Park which will be celebrating 150 years in protected status. The
three of us spent 3 hours with staff from the various park entities represented
at the conference (approximately 30 attendees). There were about 30 attendees
in this session.The block of time was
split between the topics of “Use of GIS in Wildland SAR” and “Use of Remote
Sensors and UAV’s".

Tom Patterson gave a very
dynamic and comprehensive review of the application of GIS to emergency
response, search and rescue and the development of MapSAR. I followed with a
presentation on GISCorps and the California pilot project with MapSAR. Tom Cruz followed with a presentation on the
current status in the use of UAV technology for publicly managed lands. This
technology is at the very early stages for application and use in the
management of public lands. Search and rescue is an area where this technology
can be applied relatively soon with the current set of UAV platforms. This
presentation nested very well with the other presentations.

My presentation began with GISCorps
and the meaning of a volunteer assignment. It then covered the current status
of the California pilot project and near term expectations of the GISCorps team
and MapSAR team. MapSAR is a free application for use with ArcGIS Desktop. The
application includes standardized data models, symbology, and map templates for
search and rescue. The presentation included why I think that MapSAR is an effective
tool for responding to an incident as a GIS volunteer.

The initial call for this
pilot project went out in November, 2012.Since that call, part of the GISCorps team (9 volunteers) attended
MapSAR training in San Bernardino in December. The team has begun working with
the MapSAR development team. Outreach has also begun to the SAR community.On January 15, 2013, Tom Patterson and Lorri
Peltz-Lewis met with California County SAR coordinators concerning GIS and
search and rescue. Initial steps have been taken to include GISCorps volunteers
within the framework of the California mutual aid system. The first steps have
been taken to contact the individual SAR coordinators across the state. On
March 24, the MapSAR development team and the GISCorps volunteers will be
training using MapSAR with incident scenarios (Training Flyer). This training will be hosted by
Chris Cruz at West Valley College with web links to trainers and trainees in
other parts of the state.

A major component of the GISCorps
project is the development of an effective project plan. An initial plan was
drafted in January 2013 and is under revision. From this draft plan, the following goals were
emphasized during the presentation:

Prepare GIS volunteers for responding as a MapSAR practitioner on a search and rescue incident;

Prepare search and rescue volunteers to use MapSAR and geospatial technologies on search and rescue incidents;

Expand a cadre of GIS volunteers who are available for responding to search and rescue incidents;

Assist in further development of MapSAR as a tool in search and rescue;

Agreement or understanding of the roles and responsibilities of the volunteers, the MapSAR development team, and the independent SAR teams;

Provide a framework for expansion of the pilot project throughout the state and to other regions

Why were these goals
important in a presentation for outreach to the broader community?

The GIS volunteers need to
feel comfortable in responding to an incident. This includes how to use the
MapSAR tool, what to expect on an incident, how to report, and who is in charge.
The project is just beginning and the GISCorps
team and the MapSAR team are in the early stages of understanding where roles
and responsibilities overlap and where they are distinct. For this
presentation, all of the parks rely extensively on volunteer services. While
they were not familiar with GISCorps, they are familiar with the concerns of
volunteers and their commitment of time and resources. They are also aware of
the potential problems with volunteer efforts where there is a lack of adequate
training or preparation.